231 lines
11 KiB
Groff
231 lines
11 KiB
Groff
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.answers,news.answers
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Subject: comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ part 1 of 4
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Expires: +27 days
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Followup-To: comp.os.msdos.programmer
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Distribution: world
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Message-ID: <msdos-faq.9317.1@NCoast.ORG>
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References: none
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Supersedes: <msdos-faq.9316.1@NCoast.ORG>
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Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
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Keywords:
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Archive-name: msdos-programmer-faq/part1
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Last modified: 24 Sep 1993
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This is the FAQ list (Frequently Asked Questions list) for the newsgroup
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comp.os.msdos.programmer. Parts 2 through 4 of this article are posted
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as followups in the same thread. Starting 2 Feb 1993, new and revised
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answers are marked with "new:" or "rev:" and the change date. The
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changes from the previous issue are posted in a separate article, with
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subject line "comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ diffs".
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If the posting date shown above is more than four weeks in the past, see
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instructions in part 4 of this list for how to get an updated copy. (A
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separate article, posted before this one, holds the changes from the
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previous edition. Look for the subject line "comp.os.msdos.programmer
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FAQ diffs".)
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FAQ lists are intended to reduce the noise level in their newsgroups
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that results from the repetition of the same questions, correct answers,
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wrong answers, corrections to the wrong answers, corrections to the
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corrections, debate, etc.
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This list should serve as a repository of the canonical "best" answers
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to the questions in it. The names of folks who have helped to improve
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this FAQ list follow the table of contents. If you know a better answer
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or even a slight change that improves an answer, please tell me! (Use
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email, please. Traffic in this group is high, and I may miss a relevant
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posted article.) See the "From:" line in the header, or simply reply
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(rather than followup) to this article.
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Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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brown@ncoast.org
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Subject: Search tips
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This list is in digest format (if it's set up right).
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To skip one topic and go to the next: Search for "Subject" starting
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in column 1. In trn and similar newsreaders, the command "g^Subject",
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or a simple Ctrl-G, does that.
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To search for specific topics: See the list of questions in the
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Table of Contents (immediately below) to find which article (part 2, 3,
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or 4) you need. Then, in that part, search for that question number.
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For example, while you're reading part 2 of this list, the trn
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newsreader command "g 203" (note the two spaces) goes to question 203.
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If your newsreader doesn't support searches, you can extract these
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articles to a file and use your favorite editor's search commands.
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Subject: Table of Contents
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(Sections 1-3 are in part 2 of this article; sections 4-7 in part 3, and
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sections A-C in part 4.)
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section 1. General questions
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101. Why won't my code work?
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102. What is this newsgroup about?
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103. Is comp.os.msdos.programmer just for C programmers?
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104. What's the difference from comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer?
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105. Is comp.os.msdos.programmer available as a mailing list?
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106. What's this "netiquette"?
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107. How can I learn more about Usenet?
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108. What other technical newsgroups should I know about?
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section 2. Compile and link
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201. What the heck is "DGROUP > 64K"?
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202. How do I fix "automatic data segment exceeds 64K" or "stack
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plus data exceed 64K"?
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203. Will Borland C code and Microsoft C code link together?
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204. Why did my program bomb at run time with "floating point
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formats not linked"?
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205. Why did my program bomb with "floating point not loaded"?
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206. How can I change the stack size in Borland's C compilers?
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207. What's the format of an .OBJ file?
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208. What's the format of an .EXE header?
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209. What's the difference between .COM and .EXE formats?
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section 3. Keyboard
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301. How can I read a character without echoing it to the screen,
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and without waiting for the user to press the Enter key?
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302. How can I find out whether a character has been typed, without
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waiting for one?
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303. How can I disable Ctrl-C/Ctrl-Break and/or Ctrl-Alt-Del?
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304. How can I disable the print screen function?
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305. How can my program turn NumLock (CapsLock, ScrollLock) on/off?
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306. How can I speed up the keyboard's auto-repeat?
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307. What is the SysRq key for?
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308. How can my program tell what kind of keyboard is on the system?
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309. How can I tell if input, output, or stderr has been redirected?
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310. How can I increase the size of the keyboard buffer?
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311. How can I stuff characters into the keyboard buffer?
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section 4. Disks and files
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401. What drive was the PC booted from?
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402. How can I boot from drive b:?
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403. Which real and virtual disk drives are valid?
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404. How can I make my single floppy drive both a: and b:?
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405. How can I disable access to a drive?
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406. How can a batch file test existence of a directory?
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407. Why won't my C program open a file with a path?
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408. How can I redirect printer output to a file?
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409. How can I redirect the output of a batch file?
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410. How can I redirect stderr?
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411. How can my program open more files than DOS's limit of 20?
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412. How can I read, create, change, or delete the volume label?
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413. How can I get the disk serial number?
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414. What's the format of .OBJ, .EXE., .COM files?
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415. How can I flush the software disk cache?
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section 5. Serial ports (COM ports)
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501. How do I set my machine up to use COM3 and COM4?
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502. How do I find the I/O address of a COM port?
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503. But aren't the COM ports always at I/O addresses 3F8, 2F8, 3E8,
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and 2E8?
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504. How do I configure a COM port and use it to transmit data?
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section 6. Other hardware questions and problems
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601. Which 80x86 CPU is running my program?
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602. How can a C program send control codes to my printer?
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603. How can I redirect printer output to a file?
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604. Which video adapter is installed?
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605. How do I switch to 43- or 50-line mode?
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606. How can I find the Microsoft mouse position and button status?
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607. How can I access a specific address in the PC's memory?
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608. How can I read or write my PC's CMOS memory?
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609. How can I access memory beyond 640K?
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610. Where can I find a list of 80x86 opcodes?
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section 7. Other software questions and problems
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701. How can a program reboot my PC?
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702. How can I time events with finer resolution than the system
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clock's 55 ms (about 18 ticks a second)?
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703. How can I find the error level of the previous program?
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704. How can a program set DOS environment variables?
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705. How can I change the switch character to - from /?
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706. Why does my interrupt function behave strangely?
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707. How can I write a TSR (terminate-stay-resident) utility?
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708. How can I write a device driver?
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709. What can I use to manage versions of software?
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710. What's this "null pointer assignment" after my C program
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executes?
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711. How can my program tell if it's running under Windows?
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712. How do I copyright software that I write?
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section A. Downloading
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A01. What are Simtel, Garbo, and wustl?
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A02. I have no ftp access. How can I get files from the archives?
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A03. Can I get archives on CD-ROM?
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A04. Where do I find program <mumble>?
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A05. How can I check Simtel or Garbo before I post a request for a
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program?
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A06. How do I download and decode a program I found?
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A07. Where is UUDECODE?
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A08. Why do I get errors when extracting from a ZIP file I
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downloaded?
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section B. Vendors and products
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B01. How can I contact Borland?
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B02. How can I contact Microsoft?
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B03. What's the current version of UNZIP?
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B04. What's in Borland Pascal/Turbo Pascal 7.0?
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B05. What's in Microsoft Visual C++?
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B06. Where is Microsoft C 8.0?
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B07. What is the phone number for a vendor's BBS?
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section C. More information
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C01. Are there any good on-line references for PC hardware
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components?
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C02. Are there any good on-line references for PC interrupts?
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C03. What and where is "Ralf Brown's interrupt list"?
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C04. Where can I find lex, yacc, and language grammars?
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C05. What's the best book to learn programming?
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C06. Where are FAQ lists archived?
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C07. Where can I get the latest copy of this FAQ list?
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C08. How do I use ftp?
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Subject: Acknowledgements
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Through September 1993 this list was edited by Stan Brown, Oak Road
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Systems, Cleveland, Ohio. "SB" in some answers refers to him.
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Many articles posted in comp.os.msdos.programmer sparked ideas or
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provided information for the first version of this list. Though they
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are not responsible for any errors, thanks are due to the following
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persons for posted articles or private email that led to improvements
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in this FAQ list: Jamshid Afshar, Mark Aitchison, Sanjay Aiyagari,
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George Almasi, Aaron Auseth, Robert Baker, Preston Bannister, Scott
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Barman, Denis Beauregard, Per Bergland, Mike Black, Chris Blum, Mark
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Brader, Jon Brinkmann, Andrew James Bromage, Glynn Brooks, Paul Brooks,
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Ralf Brown, Shaun Burnett, Raymond Chen, Denny de Jonge, Eric DeVolder,
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Alan Drew, Paul Ducklin, Gary Dueck, Roland Eriksson, Mark Evans, Markus
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Fischer, George Forsman, Roger Fulton, Vincent Giovannone, Robert
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Grunloh, B.Haible, Janos Haide, Klaus Hartnegg, Kris Heidenstrom, Tom
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Haapanen, Joel Hoffman, Ari Hovila, Chin Huang, Joe Huffman, Michael
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Holin, Mike Iarrobino, Byrial Jensen, Rune Jorgensen, Ajay Kamdar,
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Everett Kaser, Jeff Kellam, Jen Kilmer, Reinhard Kirchner, Dave Kirsch,
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Chad Knudsen, Samuel Ko, Benjamin Lee, Stephen Lee, Jim Lynch, Greg
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Malknecht, Sidney Markowitz, Jim Marks, Dimitri Matzarakis, Fred McCall,
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Ken McKee, Doug Merrett, Tom Milner, Bill Moore, Duncan Murdoch, Steve
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Murphy, Daniel Neri, Mert Nickerson, David Nugent, John Oldenburg, David
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Pape, Keith Petersen, Karl Riedling, Arthur Rubin, Gerald Ruderman, Timo
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Salmi, Tapio Sand, John Schmid, Russell Schulz, Huseyin Sevay, Ajay
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Shah, Steve Summit, Tom Swingle, Anders Thulin, Curt Tilmes, Rick
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Watkins, Ya-Gui Wei, Joe Wells, Scott Winder, Gregory Youngblood,
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khill@vax1.umkc.edu
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New contributors this issue: Chin Huang
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Subject: Legalistic stuff
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This article is not in the public domain, but it may be redistributed so
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long as this notice, the acknowledgements, and the information on
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obtaining the latest copy of this list are retained and no fee is
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charged. The code fragments may be used freely; credit would be polite.
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Copyright (C) 1993 Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems. All rights reserved.
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THERE IS NO WARRANTY ON THE CODE. All the code included below has been
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tested; but the testing may not have been perfect, and machines and
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configurations vary. (Except where otherwise noted, code was tested
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with both BC++ 2.0 and MSC 5.0.)
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The mention of particular books or programs must not be construed to
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reflect unfavorably on any that are not mentioned.
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(continued in part 2)
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